The Japanese as a whole, myself included, love to collect stuff. Especially
small cute stuff. And it's even better if it's small and cute and is part of an
anime series. Just as good are ones that are small and cool and part of anime.
When new figures arrive in stores, especially if it's a new robot figure, and
even more special are days when it's a new Gundam figure, it's not uncommon to
see lines forming outside the anime goods store before it opens. Kinda like the
lines in front of stores here for new game consoles or the Friday after
Thanksgiving.
Combine this with a concept similar to baseball or Pokemon cards and you have a
winner. A way to tap into the "gotta collect them ALL!" mentality in alot of
us. This is immediately evident even from the US when looking at video games
from Japan. Many of them involve collecting tons of different items. Look at
Katamari Damashii (that sticky ball rolling over stuff game). It inventories
every single thing your katamari has picked up. It's almost daring you to pick
up all 100% of the items in the game.
Or for a more otaku example, you have Dead or Alive Extreme Beach Volleyball.
Not only can you buy different gifts but there are literally hundreds of swim
suits you can get your girls to wear. Everything from thongs to jewel encrusted
bikinis to boring speedo type one piece suits to rare ones like the ones with
the bunny ears and the cotton tail or cat ears and a cat tail. And it doesn't
end there. Some girls only typically wear, say, the more demure standard
bikini's or one piece suits. It's up to the skill of the player to woo them and
win enough games for them to like you enough so you can present them with a
thong AND they'll wear it or keep it in their inventory. Gotta get them ALL!!
Where this is evident is, first off, in the Gacha-Pon machines. Named
after the Japanese description of the sound a gumball machine makes, "gacha
gacha". You put in some money, typically 100 - 300 yen, and a little plastic
ball comes out with a figure inside. They are everywhere including at Yodobashi
Camera.
These figures are extremely detailed but you don't know which you'll get until
you pay. You can spend a fortune for that ONE missing figure.
So...frustrating!
Worse yet are the bigger ones that you can buy in the store. They come in a
box. Just one figure per box. And you don't know which you got until you open
it. Typically a box can go for anywhere between 300 and 600 yen depending on
the size of the figure. And yes, there are adult ones as well that are a bit
more expensive....
There are stores dedicated to this and again, you can drop a fortune trying to
collect the set. I once bought 3 boxes and all 3 were doubles. AAAAA.
But here are some pics of the figures. Some are really cool like this one of
Vash the Stampede and the gang from Trigun.
And some are figures in other poses like these from Gundam Seed Destiny of
characters floating in zero gravity.
And a bunch of cute little superdeformed figures (or chibi figures) from other
popular mangas and anime.
...*ahem*...yes...in the above picture you saw cat girls and such too. I mean,
you can't just have normal figures and robots and such right? Fan service at
its highest......I guess...
Now...it's not that I can't see the appeal of these. I can. Really.
But...man...I mean, I can't just display these at my desk at work can I? :) As
cute as they are I think some people might complain.... :)
Of course it's not just small figurines either. Most popular anime has bigger
action figure size ones too. Gundam is a prime example. There are TONS of
Gundam robot figures everywhere in very size and detail. But again, those
are...well...normal. You can also buy posed figures of our popular anime girl
too!
Some of them are MUCH more explicit than these. Girls with a bath towel around
their body looking like they just got out of the shower. Maybe a girl with just
a guy's dress shirt on (mmmm). And so on. Again, I don't fault anyone for
wanting these. They DO look good and if you like the anime, why not?
But...where do you display them? I mean...I suppose in the end, it's just like
putting up a nude pinup on your wall at home but still....these are expensive
too! Some of the bigger girl figures can go for as much as 8000 yen (at
~110yen/$1 exchange rate).
But the kind of creepiest I saw was this one. A "life sized" anime girl for
close to $2000 (about $1800).
The sign says the base model (the picture on the bottom) is for 198,000 Yen and
comes with a school girl outfit and a school swim suit (in Japan, gym clothes
and swim suits are also given out by the school). She's 133cm tall with her
sizes being Bust: 55cm, Waist: 46cm, and Hip: 67cm and wears size 19cm shoes.
The total height is around 140cm. This way if you buy her you can go out and
buy clothes for her too. Real life kid's clothes!
Of course for 78,000 Yen you can buy the standard Santa outfit for her and for
an extra 20,000 Yen, you can get the B type costume that comes with short black
boots too!!!
And keep in mind, unlike people in the US who pay $2k for a "Real Doll", this is
NOT a sex doll. This is purely a lifesize figure. That's it. Really.
Wow.....
Kinda makes you wonder who buys this huh?....
Anyway, there you go. Another look at an odd subculture of Japanese otaku.
What can I say? I'm kinda like this too....got tons of Gundam figures on top of
my monitor at work. But someone smack me around if I start coming home lugging
a lifesize preteen anime girl figure..... (^_^)
Oh, on a totally different note, it seems that the OVA, Blood: The Last
Vampire is becoming a series coming out on DVD here in Japan! Woo! Hope it
comes out in the US soon!
